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February 16, 2015 — The numbers are startling. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1.8 million more children in the U.S. were diagnosed with developmental disabilities between 2006 and 2008 than a decade earlier. During this time, the prevalence of autism climbed nearly 300 percent, while that of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder increased 33 percent. CDC figures also show that 10 to 15 percent of all babies born in the U.S. have some type of neurobehavorial development disorder. Still more are affected by neurological disorders that don’t rise to the level of clinical diagnosis.

And it’s not just the U.S. Such impairments affect millions of children worldwide. The numbers are so large that Philippe Grandjean of the University of Southern Denmark and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Philip Landrigan of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York — both physicians and preeminent researchers in this field — describe the situation as a “pandemic.”

While earlier and more assiduous diagnosis accounts for some of the documented increase, it doesn’t explain all of it, says Irva Hertz-Picciotto, professor of environmental and occupational health and chief of the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute. Grandjean and Landrigan credit genetic factors for 30 to 40 percent of the cases. But a significant and growing body of research suggests that exposure to environmental pollutants is implicated in the disturbing rise in children’s neurological disorders.

What, exactly is going on? And what can we do about it?

Chemicals and the Brain

Some chemicals — lead, mercury and organophosphate pesticides, for example — have long been recognized as toxic substances that can have lasting effects on children’s neurological health, says Bruce Lanphear, health sciences professor at Simon Fraser University. While leaded paint is now banned in the U.S., it is still present in many homes and remains in use elsewhere around the world. Children can also be exposed to lead from paints, colorings and metals used in toys, even though these uses are prohibited by U.S. law (remember Thomas the Tank Engine), and through contaminated soil or other environmental exposure as well as from plastics in which lead is used as a softener. Mercury exposure sources include some fish, air pollution and old mercury-containing thermometers and thermostats. While a great many efforts have gone into reducing and eliminating these exposures, concerns continue, particularly because we now recognize that adverse effects can occur at exceptionally low levels.

But scientists are also now discovering that chemical compounds common in outdoor air — including components of vehicle exhaust and fine particulate matter — as well as in indoor air and consumer products can also adversely affect brain development, including prenatally.

Chemicals in flame retardants, plastics, and personal care and other household products are among those Lanphear lists as targets of concern for their neurodevelopment effects.

Chemicals that prompt hormonal changes are increasingly suspected to have neurological effects, says Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program. Among the chemicals now being examined for neurological impacts that occur early in life are flame retardants known as PBDEs that have been used extensively in upholstery foams, electronics and other products; phthalates, widely used as plasticizers and in synthetic fragrances; the polycarbonate plastic ingredient bisphenol A, known commonly as BPA; perfluorinated compounds, whose applications include stain-, water- and grease-resistant coatings; and various pesticides.

Precise Choreography

As Grandjean and Landrigan explain, the fetus is not well protected against environmental chemicals that can easily pass through the placenta. There’s evidence from in vitro studies, they say, that neural stem cells are very sensitive to neurotoxic In the past 30 to 40 years, scientists have begun to recognize that children and infants are far more vulnerable to chemical exposures than are adults.substances. An infant’s brain is also vulnerable to such contaminants. At early stages of development — prenatally and during infancy — brain cells are easily damaged by industrial chemicals and other neurotoxicants. Such interference can affect how the brain develops structurally and functionally — effects that lead to lasting adverse outcomes.

Historically, chemical neurotoxicity was examined in adults — often through cases of high levels of occupational exposure. In the past 30 to 40 years, however, scientists have begun to recognize that children and infants are far more vulnerable to chemical exposures than are adults. It has also been discovered that very low levels of exposure early in life can have profound and lasting effects. Another important discovery is that understanding how an infant or child is affected by a chemical exposure involves far more than simply calculating potential effects on a physically smaller person. Stage of development — and timing of exposure — must also be considered. Early stages of brain development involve “a very precise choreography,” explains Frederica Perera, professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “Any chemical that can disrupt [brain] chemistry at this stage can be very damaging,” she says.

For example, explains Deborah Kurrasch, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine who specializes in neurological research, during the early stages of brain development — when cells are becoming neurons — “timing determines destination.”

Results of Kurrasch’s latest study investigating neurodevelopmental effects of BPA illustrate what she means. In a study published in January 2015, Kurrasch and colleagues examined the effects on neurodevelopment of BPA and a common BPA substitute, bisphenol S. Specifically, they investigated how exposure to BPA and BPS — at levels comparable to those present in her community’s local drinking water supply — might affect neuron development in zebrafish at a stage comparable to the second trimester of human pregnancy, when neurons are forming and moving to the correct location in the brain.

Many of the chemicals under scrutiny for their effects on brain development appear to act by interfering with the function of hormones essential for healthy brain development.“It’s as if they’re getting on a bus to where they need to be,” Kurrasch says. After exposure to BPA and BPS it was as if, explains Kurrasch, “twice as many neurons got on an early bus and half as many got on a late bus.” The researchers found that these exposures appeared to alter nerve development — neurogenesis — in a way that caused the fish to become hyperactive. Such an alteration, produced in this case by a “very little bit of BPA,” can cause permanent effects, Kurrasch says.

Many of the chemicals under scrutiny for their effects on brain development — BPA, phthalates, perfluorinated compounds, brominated flame retardants and various pesticides among them — appear to act by interfering with the function of hormones essential for healthy brain development. Among these are thyroid hormones, which regulate the part of the brain involved in a variety of vital functions, including reproduction, sleep, thirst, eating and puberty.

During the first trimester of pregnancy, the fetus is not making its own thyroid hormone, says R. Thomas Zoeller, director of the Laboratory of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Endocrinology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. If an environmental exposure to a substance such as a polychlorinated biphenyl or perchlorate interferes with the mother’s thyroid hormones in this period — as could happen through water pollution, for example — that could in turn affect her child at a critical stage of brain development.

Another thing to consider in the context of endocrine-disrupting chemical exposures, says Zoeller, is that a substantial portion of women of childbearing age in the U.S. have some iodine deficiency that may be suppressing their thyroid hormones. While these deficiencies may not be prompting clinically adverse effects, they may be sufficient to impair fetal neurodevelopment. “Impacts can happen at levels far below safety standards,” says Zoeller. And there are a great many chemicals to which such women may be exposed environmentally with the potential to affect thyroid hormones, among them PBDEs, PCBs, BPA, various pesticides, perfluorinated compounds and certain phthalates.

Something in the Air

One particularly concerning source of exposure to chemicals that are suspected to harm children’s brain development is air pollution, which is a complex mixture of various chemicals and particulate matter.

Research increasingly suggests that airborne contaminants can have subtle but significant effects on early neurological development and behavior.Perera and colleagues recently investigated the links between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a fossil fuel–related component of air pollution, and incidence of ADHD in 9-year-olds. Their study found that mothers who were exposed to high levels of PAH during pregnancy were five times more likely to have children with ADHD and to have children with more severe ADHD symptoms than those who did not have such exposure. While this study is the first to make such a connection, it joins a growing body of research pointing to links between outdoor air pollutants, including PAHs, and adverse impacts on children’s brain health and development.

Looking at air pollution’s effects on brain health is relatively new, explains Kimberly Gray, health science administrator at the National Institutes of Health. Research increasingly suggests that airborne contaminants can have subtle but significant effects on early neurological development and behavior, she says. In addition to links between prenatal PAH exposure and impaired brain function, researchers are also now investigating potential connections between black carbon, volatile organic compounds and fine particulate matter — among other components of air pollution — and impairments such as autism and lowered IQ.

In a study published in December 2014,Marc Weisskopf, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology, and colleagues looked at children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5, particles 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller), particularly during the third trimester of pregnancy. The study, which involved more than 1,000 participants living all across the U.S., found that these children appeared to be twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism as children whose mothers had only low levels of such exposures. Exposure to larger particles — between 2.5 and 10 microns (what’s known as PM10) — did not appear to be associated with increasing risk for autism.

One of the disturbing recent realizations concerning environmental exposure to developmental neurotoxicants is how widespread exposure appears to be and the ubiquity of such compounds.“This is very important from an epidemiological point of view” because it “places a spotlight on the mother’s exposure,” says Weisskopf. It also highlights the importance of timing and neurodevelopmental effects. Although many other factors may contribute to autism, Weisskopf explains, this study strengthens the suggestion that environmental exposures can play a role. That it appears it is the very small particles that are associated with these effects adds to what other research is finding: What might seem quantitatively small can “be quite important” when it comes to affecting brain development, Weisskopf explains.

3/25/15 Update: Columbia University researchers just published an additional study linking common air pollutants to cognitive and behavioral impairment in children.

Widespread Exposure

As Grandjean and Landrigan point out, one of the disturbing recent realizations concerning environmental exposure to developmental neurotoxicants is how widespread exposure appears to be and the ubiquity of such compounds. “More neurotoxic chemicals are getting into products,” says Landrigan.

Phthalates, which are used as plasticizers — including in polyvinyl chloride plastics — and in synthetic fragrances and numerous personal care products, comprise one category of widely used chemicals that appear to have adverse impacts on brain development. Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health recently found that children exposed prenatally to elevated levels of certain phthalates had IQ scores that were, on average, between 6 and 8 points lower than children with lower prenatal exposures. Children with reduced IQ scores also appeared to have trouble with working memory, perceptional reasoning and information processing speeds.

“Pretty much everybody in the U.S. is exposed.” — Robin WhyattThe phthalates examined in this study, known as DnBP and DiBP, are used in numerous household products, including toiletries and cosmetics, among them shampoo, nail polish, lipstick, hair styling products and soap, as well as vinyl fabrics and dryer sheets. Exposure levels associated with reduced IQ in the study are within the range that the CDC reports finding in its National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide ongoing biomonitoring assessment of chemical exposures. “Pretty much everybody in the U.S. is exposed,” says study co-author Robin Whyatt, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Medical Center.

While such a drop in IQ may sound small, Pam Factor-Litvak, the study’s lead author and associate professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School, notes that at the population — or classroom — level, this means fewer children at the high end of the intelligence scale and more at the less capable end. “The whole curve shifts downward,” she explains.

“Five or six IQ points may not sound like much, but it means more children requiring special education programs and fewer that are gifted,” says Maureen Swanson, Learning Disabilities Association of America’s Healthy Children Project director. “The potential economic impact is huge,” says NIEHS’s Birnbaum.

The Stress Factor

What prompts neurological disorders in children is “very complex,” notes Frederica Perera. Adding to the challenge of disentangling the various contributing factors is that while research on — and regulation of — chemicals typically looks at one substance at a time, people are exposed to multiple chemicals concurrently. Further adding to this complexity when it comes to brain development are social stresses that “act on the same part of the brain region,” explains University of Rochester professor of environmental medicine Deborah Cory-Slechta. She and others are finding increasing evidence that nonchemical stressors such as maternal, domestic and community distress can prompt adverse effects on early brain development, either on their own or in combination with neurotoxic chemicals.

Birnbaum says this apparent interaction between chemicals and nonchemical stressors is “very concerning and very important.”

Epidemiological studies, Cory-Slechta explains, typically correct for what are called confounding factors — other conditions that might influence the condition being measured. Many studies, she says, “are clearly not modeling what is going on in the human environment.” What she and her colleagues hope to do is “reproduce in animal studies what goes on in human communities,” particularly in communities that are most vulnerable to adverse social stressors and most exposed to chemical contaminants, including lead, pesticides and air pollution.

Lead and stress affect the same part of the brain, she says, and so can act synergistically very early in life to produce permanent changes in brain structure. These changes can result in lowered IQ, learning and behavioral problems. Assuming we want to stop harming our children’s brains, how do we proceed?

Cory-Slechta’s lab is now working on replicating conditions of stress and chronic deprivation in animal models that would mirror those experienced by communities of poverty. The aim is to better understand how these effects cross the placenta and become the fetal basis of lifelong disorders. She and her colleagues are investigating, not only associations between exposures and neurodevelopment, but also the mechanisms by which effects occur.

What to Do?

Assuming we want to stop harming our children’s brains, how do we proceed?

An important step is to improve our ability to determine which chemicals have neurodevelopmental effects. A rapid screening system would be ideal, says Birnbaum, because there are so many chemicals — including newly invented ones — to which people are exposed. While such a program to test large numbers of chemicals quickly using robotics has been launched by NIH, EPA and other federal agencies, there are tens of thousands that may be in use, most of which have not been fully tested for these effects.

When it comes to reducing existing exposures, some chemicals can be avoided through consumer choice. But it’s often difficult, given that many of these substances are used — like BPA on receipts — in products that don’t carry ingredient labels. Others, including air pollutants, are much harder given their ubiquity or lack of available alternatives. And, as Maureen Swanson notes, such choices are not necessarily feasible for people at all economic levels, which raises environmental justice issues.

Grandjean and Landrigan point out that the U.S. system of chemical regulation, which lacks requirements for full premarket toxicity testing, does not do a very good job when it comes to proactive chemical safety. “Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity,” they wrote in an article published in The Lancet.

While some sources of neurotoxicity might appear to have been adequately addressed, they have not. For example, considerable progress has been made in curtailing lead exposure through policy and public health education in the U.S. and elsewhere. However, current understanding is that virtually any amount of lead exposure can cause damage, and harmful exposures continue — especially in countries where leaded paints and gasoline are still used . And in the U.S., CDC funding for lead prevention programs was dramatically reduced in 2012.

When it comes to protecting the exquisitely sensitive developing brain, the measures currently used to assess chemical risk and set safety standards fall short, says Cory-Slechta.Meanwhile, children around the world — especially in less well-off countries — continue to be exposed to dangerous neurotoxicants released in industrial emissions, from waste sites and through child labor. Examples abound, and include exposures to chemicals released in electronics recycling in various locations in Asia and Africa, to lead and mercury from mining activity, to agricultural pesticides, to products contaminated with heavy metals, including food and candy.

When it comes to protecting the exquisitely sensitive developing brain, the measures currently used to assess chemical risk and set safety standards fall short, says Cory-Slechta. “It should be about primary prevention, but it’s not,” she says.

In the absence of what many environmental health advocates feel is adequate U.S. federal regulation of chemicals, many individual U.S. states have recently passed their own laws to protect children from harmful chemical exposures. Many address chemicals with neurotoxic effects, particularly those of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury. And even though some states are beginning to include language in their legislation to protect pregnant women from chemical hazards, this timing of exposure is left largely unaddressed.

While we now know a great deal about developmental neurotoxicants, more such exposures appear to be occurring than ever before. And there appears to be wide agreement among researchers that these exposures are taking a toll on the world’s children.

“To me it is very clear we have to set up a different system to better protect the brains of the future,” says Grandjean.

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Surprising there is no mention of the neurotoxicants in vaccines. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institute for Vaccine Safety lists vaccine ingredients for each brand name vaccine. Adjuvants such as aluminum and thimerosal (mercury) are known neurotoxicants and can be found on the ingredient lists for certain vaccines. Parents would do well to read up on exactly what is in shots given to their beloved babies and children.

ErinFeb. 17th, 2015

Thank you for this informative and important article. I wonder though, why you did not mention fluoride or fluorosilicic acid. You reference the Grandjean study which does mention fluoride but seem to have chosen not to comment (although you do mention perfluorinated compounds) on these chemical additives which are also ubiquitous in our environment, and can also disrupt thyroid function.

Why haven't these researchers studied the "food" children eat - They consume many times more lead, mercury, and arsenic DAILY than past generations in the form of contaminated FD&C dyes in bright vitamins, "fruit" snacks, cereals, "sports" drinks, snack bars, cheese crackers, soda, candy, toothpaste, Doritos/Cheetos, popcorn, pain relievers, ice cream, etc.! And then we throw more dyes at them in ADHD medications, which perpetuates the cycle. It's a gaping hole on their research - SO obvious.

Thank you for your insightful article. In the USA there is a total of ~80000 chemicals being produced and used, yet safety studies have been done to only a handful of these chemicals. We are in the dark as to how the vast majority of the chemicals affect human health and ecology.
Considering that the majority of children have been vaccinated and are consequently exposed to the toxic ingredients in the vaccine, should a careful study not be carried out to examine if vaccines are linked to the increasing rate of neurological and immune disorders in children?

Helen PerseFeb. 18th, 2015

Please consider that ultrasound in a doctor's office may cause child autism.

JFeb. 18th, 2015

What about aluminium and Glyphosate?!

MabelFeb. 18th, 2015

Here's a possible explanation of Vaccine/Autism Connection by an MIT professor : http://youtu.be/o3P6wVUH0pc

And here's a neurosurgeon's opinion about the effects of vaccines on neuro-development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QBcMYqlaDs

FennPepperFeb. 18th, 2015

“To me it is very clear we have to set up a different system to better protect the brains of the future,” says Grandjean.

Meanwhile, legislators around the country hurry to make vaccines mandatory.

I see a conflict here.

Ram Charitra SagFeb. 18th, 2015

Dear Elizabeth
Greeting from Nepal

Thank you for this great news article based on numerous scientific evidence and policy initiatives. It is quite educational and useful for chemicals safety campaigners like us. However, it is so disturbing to know about increasing trends of many health implications in the country considered supreme power over the world. I wonder what will be the fate of children in developing countries like Nepal and elsewhere having least legislative and institutional capacity to cope with such chemicals problem.

Together we wish the betterment of children health, the future of the world.

Ram Charitra Sah
Executive Director
CEPHED
Nepal

Gerald LampingFeb. 19th, 2015

Now that NAFA and ASHRAE and IAQA are seeking to work together, it is time to foster the application of air filtration and cleaning (FAC) devices in HVAC systems which can capture the harmful fine particles and VOCs and reduce the exposures of children in homes, in schools and in child care centers. The HVAC name could be expanded to HVAC&F.
As recommended by European Standard EN13779 in Annex A, a MERV 13 Valued Particle filter and a gas phase filter are needed for achieving acceptable air quality in buildings that are located where the outside air is contaminated. LEEDS, CHPS and NAFA have recommended MERV 13 for enhanced filtration but this recommendation should now become the normal filtration requirement. It is difficult to control the outside air contaminants but the indoor air can be filtered and cleaned for reducing human exposures.

JeanFeb. 19th, 2015

It is reported, "Examples abound, and include exposures to chemicals released in electronics recycling in various locations in Asia and Africa, to lead and mercury from mining activity, to agricultural pesticides, to products contaminated with heavy metals, including food and candy."

There is no mention of another avenue of exposure to heavy metals, which are contained in vaccinations.

There is no link between autism and vaccines. That lie has been thoroughly dis-proven. People who avoid vaccines based off that lie are doing themselves and society harm.

AndriaFeb. 20th, 2015

I believe that a good starting point would be for women to get their bodies texted for chemicals, including lead and mercury prior to conceiving. Those chemicals are transferred to baby in utero as well as when breastfeeding. Knowing how "toxic" the mother's body is before pregnancy (and eliminating those toxins as much as possible) is half the battle. It will reduce the exposure in utero. I also believe babies should be tested for toxicity prior to getting any vaccines...highly toxic babies should be put on a different vaccination schedule that will allow their bodies to handle it all better, over a longer period of time.

ParrishFeb. 20th, 2015

It is incredible how our scientific "advances" are invading the once safe womb. The NIH autism research of fraternal twins concludes that the cause is environmental and during gestation. In addition to the chemical exposures, we need to consider the vibration and heating of ultrasound. The growth timelines of its use and neurological disorders match.

Linda TockFeb. 21st, 2015

The article discusses 'high levels' - without giving any reference to what constitutes 'high levels'

One of the commentators mentions the 'toxins' in vaccines - of which there aren't any. No compound in any vaccine is toxic at the dose present.

"Adjuvants such as aluminum and thimerosal (mercury)..."

Thimerosal is not an adjuvant. It is a preservative. It is present to prevent bacteria from colonizing the vaccine. Also, it is not elemental mercury. It is an organomercuric compound. Calling thimerosal (mercury) is akin to calling table salt (chlorine). It's not accurate from a risk assessment standpoint, nor a pharmacokinetic standpoint.

Another name for Aluminum cumulated from injected vaccines = "neurotoxin". We can of course look at other chemical components in vaccines that are known to be carcinogenic, anaphylactic and of course neurotoxic.

I agree that there's been a massive increase in autism spectrum disorders and various other psychiatric disorders in recent times, however I think people are making a mistake in focusing on environmental chemicals as the cause, and far more attention needs to be paid to the effects of prescription medicines given during pregnancy.

Environmental chemicals are usually only present in trace amounts, and there's no clear evidence of harm at the levels people are typically exposed to. Medicines, by contrast, are given in doses that are by definition high enough to produce a biological effect, and there are already several instances where prescription medicines are known to have caused abnormalities of neurological development in unborn babies.

For instance, exposure to the epilepsy drug valproic acid is one known cause of autism, and I have a copy of a paper ("Prenatal Exposure to Anticonvulsants and Psychosexual Development", Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 28, No. 1, 1999), in which prenatal exposure to the anticonvulsant drugs phenobarbital and phenytoin was linked to high rates of gender dysphoria and transsexuality.

Likewise, prenatal exposure to synthetic hormones (estrogens and progestins) has long been known to result in measureable, lifelong changes in people's behaviour (femininization of behaviour in males and masculinization of behaviour in females), see http://www.germlineexposures.org/uploads/6/4/0/9/6409433/reinisch_and_karow_1977.pdf.

As I've been trying to tell people for some time, I think prenatal exposure to these substances is probably one of the main things driving the transgender phenomenon of recent years, besides leading to problems with fertility, and the endocrine disorders hypogonadism in males and PCOS in females.

If you look up an organization called Hhorages France, you'll see that there's also evidence of a link between exposure to synthetic hormones, and serious mental illnesses and suicides later in life.

CarolFeb. 22nd, 2015

This article is an outstanding overview of the factors involved in altering physiological neurochemistry in fetuses and infants. The insightful comments point to important research and the need to further investigate the questions these comments raise. I would like to see Ensia publish more articles like this.

As an adult with older children and grandchildren, I would like to see more research, as well, on the effects of all kinds of chemicals, including those prescribed and/or used in inpatient settings and their effects on patients.

Thanks for this great article.

WonuolaFeb. 22nd, 2015

Screening for contaminants in maternal blood, for chemicals known to pose a high risk of neuro developmental disirders, could be included in routine antenatal checks.

Food for ThoughtFeb. 27th, 2015

What about the chemicals that are sprayed in the grocery stores? We all have the right to know - how many think to ask?

Douglas A. YatesMar. 3rd, 2015

I appreciate this review. However, it's disturbing to see there's no mention of ongoing catastrophe [4 years, 24/7] that is the leaking nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan. Most Americans lack the science literacy to grasp the danger and the long-term implications of low level radiation to their children's lives. Ernest Sternglass worked to alert people to the threats [see Youtube] but alas, the nuke industry's PR machine owns Congress, the courts and the presidency. Learn more here: enenews.com.

Joseph T. Morgan, M.D.Mar. 4th, 2015

I respectfully disagree with Hugh Easton's comment that environmental chemicals are not of major importance. They are in fact the over-riding cause, especially pesticides. There is ample evidence of harm at minute levels of exposure. One must remember that natural hormones are physiologically active at nanogram (roughly parts per billion) and picogram (parts per trillion) concentrations in the human body. Estrogen mimics and endocrine disruptors likewise can have physiologic, and damaging, activity at the same levels. The old concept that "the dose makes the poison" is quite simply no longer true. This is not to minimize the other points that Hugh Easton makes about the harm from medicines. However, the entire populace is unwittingly and usually unknowingly exposed to an enormous array of synthetic chemicals simultaneously on a lifetime basis beginning at conception. See the Endocrine Disruption Exchange web site, for example, for a chart of the vulnerability of the various organ systems week by week during gestation. I have been in medical practice for 51 years and have seen much of the evolution of these frightening conditions that scarcely, if at all, existed that many years ago. A final comment addressed to Ryan: please see the Health Impact News website for today, Mar. 4, 2015, for vindication of Dr. Andrew Wakefield's research.

Craig AdamsMar. 9th, 2015

Dental amalgams are the primary source of mercury exposure in Americans. Silver amalgam fillings contain more than 50% mercury. I had six mercury/silver amalgam fillings replaced with composite resin fillings by a mercury-free and fluoride-free dentist. Composite resin fillings are tooth colored, so as an added bonus they have improved my smile. Mercury/silver amalgam fillings are gray.

I see the anti vaccine brigade is out in force in the comments section.

I for one am very happy to see small pox consigned to history due to the mass vaccination program 160 years ago!

Laurent DApr. 11th, 2015

This article is missing the elevated levels of glyphosate in the body, which combined with heavy metals can have a significant impact on the brain.
Glyphosate was not present in food until the 1990s and is now in 80+ of foods sold in US supermarkets. Children are NOT nearly as sick in Europe. Children in the US were not nearly as sick 20 years ago. Please watch this enlightning video about glyphosate.
http://youtu.be/yiU3Ndi6itk

Where is mention of exposure to electromagnetic fields which have become nearly ubiquitous? Cell phones near the body (not just up against the head) can disable the blood-brain barrier in as little as 2 minutes of exposure. Once you disable the BBB, any toxins in the blood have easy access to the brain. Being too near a cell tower (base station) will do the same, and you can find cell towers (or just the antenna panels) placed near or within school grounds, next to residences, within parks, very near or on top of office buildings, on hospitals, and in every conceivable place just so people who choose to use cell phones can have a good signal. Watch this video by the world's top expert and scientific team from Lund University, Sweden, Dr. Leif Salford et al. Go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_WJ_aJPWIA

Distance from an operational cell phone (located at time index 13:33)

There is a biological “window” where at only 1/1000th to 1/10,000th of the microwave energy levels emitted at the antenna of the cell phone opens the blood brain barrier more efficiently.

So an innocent bystander (not using a cell phone) can be 1.85 meters from a cell phone and have their BBB opened.

Distance from a standard cell tower (located at time index 13:46)

190 meters away from the cell tower can be the distance wherein exposure to the microwaves emanating from the cell tower opens your blood brain barrier.

Jane LambertJan. 10th, 2016

What is most surprising g is no mention of chemtrail pollution (Geoengineering)! It is rampant particularly in the U.S. , which is the country which started the practice and it has been occurring for at least 10 years...those white lines all over the sky every day are filled with strontium,barium, helium , lithium and old vaccines are added to create maximal effect...the base is apparently the residue of coal mining..like fluoride is of aluminum production.When we as a culture say no to the multinationals and governments who destroy our air and water we will have a chance as a species to survive. Please Mike shine some light on this!

susie greavesMar. 4th, 2018

Absolutely extraordinary omission of thimerosol and aluminium in vaccines. There is now so much evidence about the toxicity of ethyl mercury, used in vaccines, its accumulation and persistence in the brain, and the fact that we allow our babies to be injected with hundreds of time more mercury than is allowed in drinking water. Look at Robert Kennedy's site https://worldmercuryproject.org/ Yes, we know he is critical of vaccines but all the articles he cites are simply peer reviewed articles from all over the world, published in well known journals.

Connie CrowleyJan. 13th, 2019

Vaccines, including the flu vaccine are now recommended for pregnant women. Where are studies showing the neurological effects of the mercury and aluminum being injected at various stages of pregnancy? Sadly, while we can look into industrial and corporate blame, fine and tax these institutions--there will never be any incentive to look into the CDC or pharmaceutical companies.

PlymoMay. 26th, 2020

As a 62 year old when I first started teaching allergies were rare. We had never heard of EPI pens or anaphylactic shock. Go into today’s staff room and walls are full of pics of kids with listed allergies and emergency instructions. Something has gone dreadfully wrong and gradualism has blinded us to a health emergency. No one will address this let alone have an answer. It’s all too hard. And the lifestyle changes to go back are not feasible. Very sad and scary for the future. A global health crisis ignored.

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